Big Knight Out for luckless Bulldogs

The Newcastle Knights have defeated the Bulldogs 22-12 in a very scrappy game of football at ANZ Stadium in Homebush tonight.

The game started terrible for the Bulldogs with James MacManus scoring out wide in the opening 5 minutes of the game.

The Bulldogs hit back 10 minutes later, with a strong try to powerful winger Matt Utai, beating 4 defenders to score under the posts. That was the only highlight for the dogs in the first half, as they could not control the ball, continually giving Newcastle the ball at will.

Newcastle eventually made them pay, with rookie Junior Sau scoring
outwide in the 25th on the end of a harlem-globetrotter like play.

Terrible field conditions didnt help either side, as players were constantly falling over, both in attack and defence.

The second half started out better than the first, with both sides hanging onto the ball and not giving each other field position or territory.

But in the 53rd minute, an unusual decision by referee Sean Hampstead not to check a possible try to Andrew Ryan, after replays clearly showing the Bulldogs skipper grounding the ball after Jarrod Mullen failed to clean a loose ball up.

The decision proved costly, as the Knights scored in the next set with Wes Naiqama sending Cooper Vuna away, eventually putting Junior Sau over for his second.

The Bulldogs were let of the very next set, with raging prop Danny Wicks making a strong charge putting the Knights on the attack.

A Jarrod Mullen grubber looked like Junior Sau had his hat-trick, but Hampstead didnt make the same mistake, sending it upstairs to the video ref, eventually showing the young rookie not grounding the ball.

A rare bust by the Dogs ended in tragedy in two ways. Matt Utai injuring his knee, before Chris Bailey put veteran Adam MacDougall over to seal the game.

A late try to Nick Youngquest gave the Dogs a late sniff, but the Knights kept them at bay.